Electrical problem cited in Pa. fire that killed 4

PHILADELPHIA – An electrical problem is being cited as the cause of a fast-moving fire that killed a Philadelphia mother and her three children.

Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said Tuesday that officials believe second-floor electrical outlets were not working, and the mother had stretched a long extension cord from the living room to heat the bedrooms. He said a short circuit in the wall behind the outlet sparked the blaze. There were no working smoke detectors in the house.

The home in North Philadelphia was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Killed in the Thursday blaze were 33-year-old Rasheedah Butts-Wilson, her 14-year-old son Jamar, and her two daughters, 12-year-old Minyan and 8-year-old Shanai.